Education

DCPS: Audit reveals ‘accounting issues,’ not ‘mismanaged money’

JACKSONVILLE — In a recent audit by the State of Florida, the Auditor General found instances where the Duval County Public School District spent money it shouldn’t have or put money in the wrong place.

However, in an Action News Jax exclusive interview, a representative for the district said this was a misunderstanding.

Action News Jax investigator Meghan Moriarty had a one-on-one interview with Tracey Pierce, chief marketing and communications director with DCPS.

Moriarty asked, “Do you believe that money was mismanaged here?”

“I don’t believe money was mismanaged at all,” Pierce responded. “I believe that there were some bookkeeping or accounting errors, process errors that need to be corrected.”

Some of those errors include $74,958 awarded for Best and Brightest scholarships to teachers who were not eligible for them, according to the state.

“We interpreted that language to include VPK pre-kindergarten teachers. The state took a different view, and so now we have to resolve those payments,” Pierce explained. “We interpreted the law to the benefit of the teachers, and the state has a different view.”

During the interview, Moriarty stated that the school district is being asked to pay back that money. She asked how the district plans to do that.

“If the state does determine that we have to pay back the money, this is the school district we have a budget — we always budget for unintended expenses. This will be in that category,“ Pierce said.

Another finding in the report was that district distributions of discretionary millage to the district charter schools were $276,239 less than required by state law.

“Do you plan to credit that money to charter schools going forward?” Moriarty asked.

“Not at this stage.” Pierce said. “We believe that we followed the Florida Department of education protocol on how we awarded money to charter schools. Again, the auditor took a different view.” Pierce went on to say the district will consult with the state on this.

An additional finding showed the district broke state law when it credited $737,674 to its general fund when it should have been used in other funds. In a written statement, the district said it will properly credit those earnings for the next fiscal year.

“Those who made those internal accounting issues, are they being disciplined?” Moriarty asked.

“They would be counseled.” Pierce replied. “They would be counseled...corrected, trained, and then potentially you would add other controls such as monthly or quarterly reports or checks to make sure that things are being done correctly.” Pierce said no one was fired—that he was aware of—due to this mishap.

The district does have detailed plans in place to make sure these mistakes do not happen again. They’re outlined in the audit report:

“What would you say is your general message to the taxpayers about this audit?” Moriarty asked.

“It’s kind of like a big test,” Pierce said. “You can miss a few answers on the test and still have a a high-grade that’s what we’ve done here. There’s a few that we missed, and that’s how the process is supposed to work“

Pierce adds that not many audit reports are perfect.

“The audit process is designed to flush those out, so we can correct them and have those appropriate conversations,” Pierce said. “And, know that those taxpayers know that the dollars are being used for the purposes that you receive them.”

DCPS also has a transparency page on its website.

“Viewers and taxpayers can see all of our information there and decide for themselves,” Pierce said. “We want the public to have full access to documentation around our finances, and that’s part of Dr. Greene’s work to continuously improve our stewardship of taxpayer funds.“